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Eamon Javers (0:59)
I'm Scott Wapner, and you're listening to CNBC's Halftime Report, the podcast the most profitable hour of the trading day. We record this live weekdays at 12 Eastern. Listen in.
President (1:14)
You're listening to Halftime Report in progress makes them even greater, you know that. But in a few short months since taking office, we have achieved the swift return of American strength at home and abroad. Now, working with the vast majority of people in this region who seek stability and calm, our task is to unify against the few agents of chaos and terror that are left and that are holding hostage the dreams of millions and millions of great people. The biggest and most destructive of these forces is the regime in Iran, which has caused unthinkable suffering in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq, Yemen and beyond. There could be no sharper contrast with the path you have pursued on the Arabian Peninsula than the disaster unfolding right across in the Gulf of Iran. Think of that. They wanted to name it that. I said they're not going to let them do that. Do you mind if I stop that? I stopped it. We're not going to let that happen. While you have been constructing the world's tallest skyscrapers in Jeddah and Dubai, Tehran's 1979 landmarks are collapsing into rubble and dust. They had it going for a little while under a much different system, but those buildings are largely falling apart, falling down while you're building some of the world's biggest and most incredible infrastructure projects. Buildings, all sorts of things you're building that nobody has ever even seen before. Iran's decades of neglect and mismanagement have left the country plagued by rolling blackouts lasting for hours a day. All the time, you hear about it. While your skill has turned dry deserts into fertile farmland, Iran's leaders have managed to turn green farmland into dry deserts as they're corrupt. Water mafia, it's called it. The water mafia causes droughts and empty riverbeds. They get rich, but they don't let the people have any of it. And then, of course, there's the key difference at the root of it all. While the Arab states are focused on becoming pillars of regional stability and world commerce, Iran's leaders have focused on stealing their people's wealth to fund terror and bloodshed iron abroad. Most tragic of all, they have dragged down an entire region with them. Countless lives were lost in the Iranian effort to maintain a crumbling regime in Syria. Look at what happened with Syria. In Lebanon, their Hezbollah proxies have pillaged the hopes of a nation whose capital, Beirut, was once called the Paris. The Middle East. Can you imagine? All of this misery and so much more was entirely avoidable, Absolutely avoidable. And Mohammed knew that. He knew that. Smart people knew that. If only the Iranian regime had focused on building their nation up instead of tearing the region down. Yet I'm here today not merely to condemn the past chaos of Iran's leaders, but but to offer them a new path and a much better path toward a far better and more hopeful future. As I have shown repeatedly, I am willing to end past conflicts and forge new partnerships for a better and more stable world, even if our differences may be very profound, which obviously they are. In the case of Iran. I have never believed in having permanent enemies. I am different than a lot of people think. I don't like permanent enemies. But sometimes you need enemies to do the job and you have to do it right. Enemies get you motivated. In fact, some of the closest friends of the United States of America are nations we fought wars against in generations past. And now they're our friends and our allies. I want to make a deal with Iran. If I can make a deal with Iran, I'll be very happy if we're going to make your region and the world's a safer place. But if Iran's leadership rejects this olive branch and continues to attack their neighbors, then we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure, drive Iranian oil exports to zero like I did before. If you know that they were a virtually bankrupt country because of what I did. They had no money for terror. They had no money for Hamas or Hezbollah and take all action required to stop the regime from ever having a nuclear weapon. Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. But with that said, Iran can have a much brighter future, but will never allow America and its allies to be threatened with terrorism or nuclear attack. The choice is theirs to make. We really want them to be a successful country. We want them to be a wonderful, safe, great country. But they cannot have a nuclear weapon. This is an offer that will not last forever. The time is right now for them to choose right now. We don't have a lot of time to wait. Things are happening at a very fast pace. They're happening right here. They're happening at a very fast pace. So they have to make their move right now, one way or the other. Make your move. As I said in my inaugural address, my greatest hope is to be a peacemaker and to be a unifier. I don't like war. We have the greatest military, by the way, in the history of the world. You know, I rebuilt our military in my first four years and rebuilt it into the most powerful military there is. And you saw that. When I knocked out ISIS in three weeks, people said it would take four years, five years. I did it. We did it in three weeks. Just days ago, my administration successfully brokered a historic ceasefire to stop the escalating violence between India and Pakistan. And I used trade to a large extent to do it. I said, fellas, come on, let's make a deal. Let's do some trading. Let's not trade nuclear missiles. Let's trade the things that you make so beautifully. And they both have very powerful leaders, very strong leaders, good leaders, smart leaders. And it all stopped. Hopefully it'll remain that way, but it all stopped. I was very proud of Marco Rubio and all of the people that worked so hard. Marco, stand up. What a great job you did on that. Thank you. Jd, Vance, Marco, the whole group worked with you, but there was a great, great job. And I think they're actually getting along. Maybe we can even get them together a little bit, Marco, where they go out and have a nice dinner together. Wouldn't that be nice? But we've come a long way and that's could be, you know, millions of people could have died from that conflict that started off small and was getting bigger and bigger and bigger by the day. I've also been working relentlessly to end the terrible bloodshed between Russia and Ukraine. And very importantly, talks are being held in Turkey later this week, probably on Thursday. And they could produce some pretty good results. Our people are going to be going there. Marco is going to be going there. Others are going to be going. And we'll see if we can get it done. 5,000 people, young people, for the most part, soldiers from Ukraine, soldiers from Russia. They're not from here and they're not from the United States. But their souls, their souls. I think usually mostly they're young, beautiful souls that left their parents waving goodbye, left their brothers and sisters goodbye, I'll see you soon. And they got blown to pieces. 5,000 on average a week are dying. And people are dying elsewhere in the region. But tremendous numbers like we haven't seen since World War II are dying. And I want to stop it. I want to stop it. It's a horrible war. Would have never happened if I were president. That's a war that would have never happened. October 7th would have never happened if I were president. Because Iran had no money to pay Hamas or anybody else. They had no money. They were not looking to take care of them. They had to take care of themselves. They had no money. We stopped their oil effectively with the embargoes and sanctions. But let me take this opportunity to thank the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the constructive role that you've played in facilitating the Ukraine talks. And it really is. You've been amazing. You've made everything available to us. Thank you very much. Thank you. And if we get that settled, we'll pay a special tribute to what you've done. You really did lay a great groundwork. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. The west should not be dragging itself backward into another endless war in Europe. Yet another endless war. We should stop the killing and work together to address the biggest long term threats as one unbeatable team. Think of us as an unbeatable team. I mean, when you look at what you've done here, that's much more difficult than stopping stupidity. Think of it. It's stupidity. What you've done is much more difficult. And you did it better than anybody else has ever done it. As President of the United States, my preference will always be for peace and partnership, whenever those outcomes can be achieved. Always. It's always going to be that way. Only a fool would think otherwise. In recent years, far too many American presidents have been afflicted with the notion that it's our job to look into the souls of foreign leaders and use U.S. policy to dispense justice for their sins. They loved using our very powerful military and now it's really the most powerful it's ever been. We just are getting a budget approved $1 trillion, highest budget we've ever had in history for military. $1 trillion. And we're getting the greatest missiles, the greatest weapons. And, you know, I hate. I hate to do it, but you have to do it because we believe in peace through strength. You have to have the strength, otherwise bad things could happen. But hopefully we'll never have to use any of those weapons. Seems to be an awfully big waste of money if you're never going to use them. But hopefully we'll never have to use them, because the destructive power of some of those weapons are like nobody's seen before. I believe it is God's job to sit in judgment. My job to defend America and to promote the fundamental interest of stability, prosperity, and peace. That's what I really want to do. I will never hesitate to wield American power if it's necessary to defend the United States or to help defend our allies. And there will be no mercy for any foe who tries to do us or them harm. We will have no mercy. They understand that. That's why I've been pretty lucky. A lot of people think, you know, he's looking to fight, he's looking to fight, and things get settled. It's an amazing thing when they really think you mean it, but we do. We have the greatest military, the strongest military, stronger than any. Nobody's even close. We have the best weapons in the world, but we don't want to use them. If you threaten America or our partners, however, then you'll be faced with overwhelming strength and devastating force. We have things that you don't even know about, you don't hear about. And if you did, you'd say, wow. In recent weeks, following repeated attacks on American ships and freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the United States military launched more than 1,100 strikes on the Houthis in Yemen. As a result, the Houthis agreed to stop. They said, we don't want this anymore. It's the first time you've heard that from them, too. They're tough. They're fighters. But just days ago, we were asked to cease targeting commercial. They were not going to be targeting commercial ships in any way, shape, or form or anything American. And they were very happy that we stopped, but we had 50. And they were very happy that we stopped, but we had 52 days of thunder and lightning like they've never seen before. This was a swift, ferocious, decisive, and extremely successful use of military force. Not that we wanted to do it, but they were shooting down ships. They were shooting at you. That were shooting at Saudi Arabia. We don't want them shooting at Saudi Arabia, if that's okay. So we hit them hard. We got what we came for, and then we got out. Since January 20th, the US military has terminated 83 terrorist leaders operating across Iraq, Syria and Somalia, including ISIS's number two global leader. You read about that just recently. With the help of Pakistan, we apprehended the ISIS terrorists responsible for the attack on 13American service members that abygate that horrible, horrible disaster during the. During this Afghanistan withdrawal. You know, that's another thing that we don't even think about so much anymore. 13 died, but 42 were horribly wounded. But hundreds of people died overall because I count the people on the other side who hundreds of people just grossly incompetent. It's probably why Putin decided to go into Ukraine, something he never would have done if I were president. But we wouldn't have had the problems of October 7th if I were president. We wouldn't have had Ukraine, Russia. If I were president, we wouldn't have had abigate because there wouldn't have been any reason we were getting out, but we were getting out with dignity and with strength and power. But the way they got out was not good. I think it was the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country. And we've been working tirelessly to bring back all hostages held by Hamas. We brought back a lot already, but we're bringing back more. This weekend we successfully negotiated the release of the last American hostage. Edan Alexander just came out a few hours ago. And we continue to work to get that war ended as quickly as possible. It's a horrible thing that's taking place. All civilized people must condemn the October 7th atrocities against Israel, which would never have happened again if you had probably a different president, but definitely if you had me as president. The people of Gaza deserve a much better future. But that will. But that will or can not occur occur as long as their leaders choose to kidnap, torture and target innocent men, women and children for political ends. The way those people are treated in Gaza, there's not a place in the world where people are treated so badly. It's horrible. After years of suffering, two of the nations most ravaged by terror are finally beginning to end their long nightmares under the new generation of leaders. In Lebanon, where a friend of mine has just become the ambassador, he's going to be great. I said, you know, that could be a very dangerous job. He said, I was born there, I'm Lebanese. I love that country. I said, but it's very dangerous. You know, this is a friend of mine from New York. I said, but it's very dangerous. Are you sure you want to do it? I never thought of him as being a warrior, but he is a warrior. He loves his country. He said, if I'm injured or die, I'm dying for a country that I love. He grew up there. It's horrible what's happened in Lebanon, but you have a great ambassador. I can tell you that. In Lebanon, which has been endlessly victimized by Hezbollah and their sponsor, Iran, a new president and prime minister have brought the first real chance in decades for a more productive partnership with the United States. And we're going to work with their new ambassador and everybody else, Marco, and we're going to see if we can really help them out and let them get over that very high grid that they're going to have to get over. My administration stands ready to help Lebanon create a future of economic development and peace with its neighbors. They have tremendous people in Lebanon. Doctors, lawyers, great professional people. I hear it so many times. Likewise, in Syria, which has seen so much misery and death, There is a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace. That's what we want to see in Syria. They've had their share of travesty, war killing many years. That's why my administration has already taken the first steps toward restoring normal relations between the United States and Syria for the first time in more than a decade. And I'm very pleased to announce that Secretary Marco Rubio will be meeting with the new Syrian foreign minister in Turkey later this week. And very importantly, after discussing the situation in Syria with the Crown Prince, your Crown Prince, and also with President Erdogan of Turkey, who called me the other day and asked for a very similar thing, among others and friends of mine, people that I have a lot of respect for in the Middle East, I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness. It. Oh, what I do. For the crown Prince, the sanctions were brutal and crippling and served as an important, really an important function nevertheless at the time. But now it's their time to shine. It's their time to shine. We're taking them all off and they're going to have, I think they're going to have, based on the people and the spirit and everything else that I'm hearing about. So I say, good luck, Syria. Show us something very special like they've done, frankly, in Saudi Arabia. Okay? They're going to show something special. Very good people. Everywhere we can. My administration is pursuing peaceful engagement, offering a strong and steady hand of friendship to all that will take it in good faith. Together we have made unprecedented strides and tremendous progress. And we're still just at the dawn of the bright new day that awaits for the people of the Middle East. The great, great people of the Middle East. If the responsible nations of this region seize this moment, put aside your differences and focus on the interests that unite you, then all of humanity will soon be amazed at what they will see right here in this geographic center of the world. It really is. It's like a center of the world and the spiritual heart of its greatest faiths. For the first time in a thousand years, the world will look at this region not as a place of turmoil and strife and war and death, but as a land of opportunity and hope, just like you've done right here. A cultural and commercial crossroads of the planet, security and stability will lift millions into lives of safety and success. And the nations of this region will be free to realize your highest destinies, honor your proud histories, harness amazing new opportunities, and bring incredible glory to Almighty God. People will come from all over the globe to be inspired by the cities you build, the businesses you create, the technologies you invent, and the beauty, talent and potential you unleash right in the hearts of your citizens. Each of you will be able to take tremendous pride in the legacy you will leave to your children because you will have given them the ultimate blessings of prosperity and peace so important in the United States. We've launched the golden age of America. It's the golden age. We see it. We see it with all that money, trillions and trillions dollars pouring in, hundreds of thousands of jobs coming in with it. And with the help of the people of the Middle east and the people in this room, partners throughout the region, the golden age of the Middle east can proceed right alongside of us. We will work together. We will be together. We will succeed together. We will win together. And we will always be friends. Thank you. So, Mohammed, I want to thank you again very much for having me. And as a representative of what I think is the greatest nation in the world, we are with you all the way. And you have a tremendous future. Thank you very much. And please pay my respects to your father. Thank you very much. Much thank you.